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CISA Practice Question: Uses a cloud-based ERP system to manage financial…
An organization uses a cloud-based ERP system to manage financial transactions. The system is accessed by employees in finance, procurement, and sales departments. The IS auditor is reviewing the user access review process. The access review is performed quarterly by the IT manager using a report generated by the ERP system. The report lists all users and their roles. The IT manager manually checks off users who are still employed and approves the report. The auditor notes that the IT manager does not have detailed knowledge of job functions in each department. Additionally, the ERP system allows role combinations that may create segregation of duties conflicts, such as a user having both 'create purchase order' and 'approve purchase order' roles. The company's policy requires segregation of duties reviews to be performed by business process owners. Which of the following is the BEST recommendation?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose an automated tool (Option B) as the 'best' technical solution, but the question emphasizes policy compliance and the need for business process owner involvement, not just technical detection.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Assign the access review to business process owners from each department
The core issue is that the IT manager lacks the business process knowledge to assess whether role combinations create segregation of duties (SoD) conflicts. Company policy explicitly requires SoD reviews to be performed by business process owners. Assigning the access review to business process owners from each department (Option C) directly aligns with policy and ensures that those with functional knowledge evaluate whether role assignments violate SoD rules, such as a user having both 'create purchase order' and 'approve purchase order' roles.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the frequency of access reviews to monthly
Why it's wrong here
Frequency is not the issue; the lack of business knowledge is.
- ✗
Implement an automated tool to identify segregation of duties conflicts
Why it's wrong here
Helpful but does not replace the need for business owner review.
- ✓
Assign the access review to business process owners from each department
Why this is correct
Business owners understand the necessary segregation of duties.
- ✗
Require the IT manager to obtain confirmation from each department head
Why it's wrong here
Better but still not as effective as having business owners perform the review.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISA exam.